Waitress
by lupi81
Summary: Just a series of crappy Fuugen drabbleys.
1. Chapter 1

He was dark and looked dangerous but he was also beautiful in a cutthroat way, just like someone she once knew. So while the other waitresses shied away from his table she sauntered over and smiled, recalling the glimmering feral eyes of someone lost in her past. Mild surprise brewed in his eyes at the dreamy, faraway smile of the young, beautiful waitress.

"Can I get you anything to drink sir?"

Her voice was lively and he decided that he liked it, liked her with her trusting, worldly gaze and bright, doe eyes.

"Sake," he grunted.

This garnered another smile and a small laugh. The laugh was reminiscent and indulgent, speaking of fond memories.

She swished away on long, shapely legs and disappeared into the kitchen.

She returned shortly with a bottle and small cup and wordlessly poured for him. He was surprised at her lackadaisical mannerisms towards one such as himself. He knew he was intimidating, yet this slip of a girl was completely unafraid. She took his food order and disappeared again.

She cut through the crowded teahouse with ease, bearing a steaming plate of dumplings for him and a bowl of miso. She set down his food and drifted away, unfazed by his dark eyes that had lost their hard edge and peered at her with unfettered wonder.

He waited outside until the lights in the teahouse went out and a small, pretty girl bustled out. Her voice was raised and she was whacking a kitchen boy over the head, spouting off words no pretty young girl should know. He growled at the kitchen boy and watched in amusement as he scampered off immediately. She beamed up at him and started in the direction of her small hut. He ambled along beside her, taking up the role of valiant protector, a fact which made him laugh.

"So, when did you get off the island," she asked offhandedly.

"You know I am Ryukuyan and you calmly letting me walk you home?"

"You guys don't scare me," she laughed. "I was once very fond of one of your kind."

"Oh? And what was his name?"

"He was a convict named Mugen and I miss him everyday."

They had arrived at a small smattering of huts and she approached a small patched up one with a little garden outside. She faced him with a brilliant smile.

"Thanks for the walk back," she smiled.

"You should be more careful. Take care girlie."

The dark man grinned lopsidedly at the man who had just plunked down at his table. He nudged the bottle of sake towards the new arrival with a drunken shout of a Ryukyuian greeting. The newcomer took a swig and surveyed his new drinking buddy.

"Hey, if youuur goin through that town up ahead you should go to this one teahouse. There's this young pretty thing that smiles at you like you grew up in a castle in Edo."

"Yeah man?"

"Yeah, she ain't the least bit scared of Ryukyuians. Said she knew one once. Shoulda seen the way she smiled when she talked about him. Lucky bastard shoulda never left such a pretty girl."

The man smiled and his feral eyes glimmered in the dull light of the bar. He idly scratched the back of his neck while he surveyed the drunken man.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, some guy named Mugen. They musta been fuckin. I'll tell you what, if she wasn't so nice to me I might have had a go."

The man's face split into a lazy smirk and a chill went through the drunken man at the underlying promise of violence as the man crossed blue-banded arms across his chest.

"Good thing you didn't buddy, I woulda had to cut your throat wide open."

With an easy smile the man hoisted himself to his feet and meandered out of the bar, his geta clad feet shuffling him towards the next town.


	2. Deja Vu

Okay so a scatterbrained drabbley part two to waitress. I have decided to make this a loosely linked series of drabbles because I can and I apologize in advance for sucky grammar and the off-in-a-million different directions of this one. I feel like I would update pretty quickly if given the proper motivation (hint hint).

She moved through the teahouse with a grace free of almost any vestiges of the clumsiness that marked her earlier years. She still had her moments but in this town everyone knew the pretty young waitress who was occasionally clumsy, and just adored her all the more for it. Smitten young men would gather in the teahouse to waste their wages on food they weren't hungry for because she wouldn't go out with them. She never looked at any of the town's men, her eyes dreamy and faraway. Some said they lingered on a past lover and some said she was just lost in world no one else could really see. Really the men of this town couldn't compare to the one in her mind's eye.

The rumors about her were far flung and colorful, but never mean. It wasn't everyday that a young girl blows into a town with no relations or guardianship and takes up an abandoned hut on her own. She was their darling because she gave them something to talk and ponder about and because she smiled so widely and freely.

So it was a surprise when the girl known for such grace and a smiling countenance dropped a tea tray and let her jaw go slack as the teahouse flap was brushed to the side. She had heard his geta and their odd wooden-metallic thunking long before she laid eyes on that beautiful, beautiful face.

She was seized by an attack of near violent déjà vu as he breezed in, potent and dangerous with an aura so intense it seemed to suck in the room until it had condensed to just him and her.

His dark hair was still wild and shaggy and his skin was still dark. But the difference was that when his scintillating feral eyes slid to her they softened almost imperceptibly and a fondness smoldered in their dark depths.

They went wide, however, at the sight of what had indeed grown to be a very pretty girl flinging herself at him at a speed that made his chest swell with pride. He laughed at the horrified gleam in the patrons eyes when he brought swarthy arms emblazoned with his status as a convict around her lithe form.

"Hey brat," he drawled sounding bored when inside he was anything but.

"Mugen," she shrieked into his chest, happily engaging him in a hug like they did this all the time.

The dreaminess of her eyes evaporated and all that shone in them was adoration as she looked up at him. Every man in the joint felt a wrenching pain in his chest at the sheer levity of her gaze and every woman had a panic attack when they saw that the teahouse mascot was hugging a convicted felon. Under the intimidating façade, some older, wiser women noted the gentleness of his embrace and the fondness in his eyes. They were less then thrilled at the source though.

He was suddenly and painfully aware of everyone in the teahouse looking at him and the fact that he was being hugged by a happy, squealing girl.

"'right 'right get off already," he grunted, ruffling her hair just to annoy her.

"You ass! We just reunited and you're already acting up."

He merely made a face and dropped unceremoniously into a booth, looking up at the young waitress expectantly.

"Dumplings," he grinned and watched as she smiled again and sauntered off to get his dinner.

What he wouldn't tell her is how excited he was to see her and how he wanted to rip out the throat of every moron that was fawning over her, which was just about every man in the place. He wouldn't say that she had grown from cute to the most beautiful thing he had ever seen and he certainly wouldn't tell her he'd missed her. But he would walk her home to her hut and see to it that no other man stated nosing around and he would do his best to keep that adoring look in her eye. Because they fought like cats and dogs but it kept her occupied and he always could make her laugh. And she gave him something to protect and made him feel wanted and needed which was something he subconsciously craved. They were leeches the both of them, feeding of each other in symbiotic parasitism and it couldn't have worked out any better.


	3. Princess

Woot, a tiny little thing because I'm capricious.

He was very much a stray and he felt as if he had been taken in by a princess.

To someone who grew up on the rough, dirty streets of Ryukyu the small hut was a palace he had free reign of. It was an orchid among weeds because it bore the formerly intangible promise of permanence, of home. He fixed up the hut, only mumbling something about mending boats when asked where in the seven hells he learned anything about carpentry.

Fuu was no princess.

She had no relations, no money and no connections. Her mother was dead and her father was a disgraced samurai who died leaving her very little. She was an orphan, but she was a very pretty orphan. She was hardy and enduring, repeatedly defiant in the face of danger. But to someone like Mugen she was a princess, she was nobility compared to his origins and it was something he was aware of.

So the mutt made sure to keep one keen eye on the princess, who shared the annoying tendency to get kidnapped with her fellow bluebloods, because a castle just isn't castle without a princess. (And he was really quite fed up with fighting ugly ass dragons and pulling her out of towers.)


	4. Skills

She had missed the odd spectacle that was Mugen in action. The impossible contortions he forced his lean body into while navigating the snarl of arms and legs with deadly precision. So as he spun like a deranged top, smashing steel-lined geta into the stomachs of two bit thugs, she didn't decry his violence. Her stolen money had long since flown out of their grimy hands but apparently he didn't take well to people stealing what was essentially his.

Stunned townspeople had begun to gather to watch him artfully wale on the cowering men, his body a blur of motion. Fuu could only thank her lucky stars that he hadn't taken out his sword. That would have been a REAL mess.

A horrified gasp was drawn from a woman as a kick sent a thief sprawling into the crowd, Mugen snarling something about amateurs and dumbasses.

"Mugen."

He continued to release pent up aggression on the stupid, stupid men. Fuu wondered who stole from someone with prison tattoos anyway.

"Mugen," this time it came out firmer and laced with growing annoyance.

He ignored her and continued to play around, pulling punches and tossing them about like rag dolls.

"MUGEN!!!!"

At her ear-shattering shriek he abruptly stopped with an irritated expression and idly picked up the fallen money.

"What ya skinny bitch?"

Fuu just groaned and accepted her money back.

"Thanks by the way," she said while she suppressed the urge to wring his neck for calling her a skinny bitch.

He stood a little bit taller at this, resuming his role of stalking along beside her like some great, scary predator.

"Yeah, whatever. Those dumbasses had it coming to 'em."

Fuu didn't miss the pleased gleam to his eyes at her praise though and she happily led her predator through the market to buy dinner, ignoring the dumbfounded looks they got at the irony of an obvious felon beating on some punks for stealing.


	5. Jealousy 1

A shiver of some foreign uneasy feeling crawled up as he watched the soft eyes the man was making at a flustered Fuu. He smiled at her as he gently handed her the items of her dropped basket, slender hands delicately cradling her fallen goods. His whole demeanor was too soft and tender in regards to her. The look in the guy's shimmering dark eyes made him agitated and this in turn caused ire to build quickly as he surveyed from a distance. She laughed at something he said while slightly edging away, shifting when he took her hand in his. Something in him snapped and he burst onto the scene.

The man dropped her hand, surprise and fear warring for dominance on his traditionally attractive face. He noted the bellicose acerbity in his eyes and the bright blue prison bands on his wrists. Languid, yet predatory movements brought him to loom beside Fuu who looked up at him with oblivious, innocent adoration still emanating from her eyes.

In a rare fit of possessiveness he flung a tawny arm over her shoulder after snarling foreign curses at the man, feral eyes flashing with malice. The man looked horrified that some convict was draped over the girl, and even more horrified that said convict looked set on tearing him to shreds. His concern for the girl fled when the felon's fingers inched towards the hilt of his sword.

That soft-eyed man wasn't good enough for his Fuu because she was troublesome and often in need of rescuing, he could tell the man wasn't strong enough to take care of her. He found that no man was good enough to be entrusted with the often-imperiled Fuu. They were too weak, too ugly, and too sweet. They wouldn't argue with her, something which she secretly loved. They couldn't protect her, which was something he excelled at. And frankly, they would all look ridiculous next to her. She would be smothered in their homes; relegated to making dinner and babies. He refused. Subconsciously, he knew that no man would ever be good enough in his eyes if only because he wanted her. He wanted to be the protector _and_ the lover. So he went with her to market and usually walked her home from work. He was more often then not her shadow, a shadow that was intent on diffusing male attention from her. And she never minded. She just smiled at him and thanked him for walking her home.


	6. Jealousy 2

She turned on her heel in a huff and flurry of pink. Her steps were harsh and so was her breathing as she retreated from the scene. Her gaze was rife with a violent mix of unpleasant emotions. Anger, jealousy and hurt shone through like beacons and she quickly fled the scene she had stumbled upon. Harsh breaths escaped her lips in ragged exhalations as she fought down scalding tears. She rounded a corner and felt her anger grow. He couldn't have it both ways. She refused to be guarded like some dragon's hoard while he went around and flirted with some stupid bimbo.

_A lazy smirk split his dark face as he peered down at the woman that had sidled up to him. Her kimono was parted to reveal a brain-debilitating amount of cleavage that was being pushed together further by a rather conspicuous move of her arms. Hooded eyes gazed up at him while she cooed in dulcet tones. She was offering herself up like lamb on the alter; his for the taking. _

She trembled with rage and a potent underlying current of betrayed hurt. He snarled like a starving dog at any man who made any pass at her only to run off to pick up some chick with huge tits. With a bitter sigh she looked down at her perky, but less then enormous chest. Maybe that's why he never made any move.

Feral eyes widened with alarm as he caught a flash of pink from the corner of his eye. Swiveling his head in time to see Fuu bolt away, he instantly forgot the girl throwing herself at him as panic welled up in him. With his past reputation for picking up girls and whores, he could only imagine how Fuu would view this scene. Without any further acknowledgement towards the woman he sprinted after her, overcome with the desire to tell her he had no intention of taking the woman up on her not so subtle offer.

Scrubbing away at her tear stained face with her kimono sleeve, Fuu completely missed the familiar clanging-thuds of a pair of steel-lined geta. She was far too engrossed in her own turmoil to see Mugen arrived in a panicked flourish. He felt some dark rending in his chest at the sight of her crying over something he did. He was supposed to be the one that made her laugh in between stupid arguments, not the one that made her cry.

"Fuu," his voice was hesitant and softer than she had ever heard it.

She jerked at the sound of his voice and turned away from him.

"Go away."

"Fuu-"

"I said go away. I'm sure that you can shack up with that girl tonight so just don't bother coming home tonight."

Her voice was trembling, laced with her growing anger and hurt.

Real fear surged through him at this. She was kicking him out? She couldn't do that. He was very attached to the idea of home now and to have it taken away was terrifying in a way that confused him. She was home and she was barring him from her comfort.

"Fuck that, Fuu. What the hell is wrong? I'm not with the girl am I?"

A frustrated scream bubbled from her lips as she regarded him. She didn't miss the veiled look of panic in his eyes but it did nothing to assuage her wrath.

"You won't let any guy near me, but you just run off to some stupid girl! Why Mugen? Am I that horrible?"

He surged against her, his lean frame pinning her slight body against the wall. His hands, his beautiful hands, clasped her face between his rough palms. Long fingers wove into her hair as he pulled her against him. He buried his face into the top of her head, murmuring fiercely into her hair.

"Fuck that chick Fuu, I couldn't care less 'bout her. I ain't gonna fuck her either. I don't want her."

Fuu suddenly found her face being tilted upwards and Mugen slanted his mouth over hers in a kiss riddled with need. His need for her, his need for her to accept him, the need for stability, and a need to feel cared for and loved.

Fuu let her fingers lace into his wild mane, curling them into the unruly mass to anchor herself against his onslaught.

"It's always been you, Fuu, it's always been you."


	7. Leaving

Mushy mushy Mugen would kill me –cackles- but I love kinda of sweet Mugen, I think its cute. Anyway review. Right…… NOW! Ps ignore my grammar I refuse to proofread because I am lazy so blah.

Sometimes she feels like some weight that keeps him from taking off. He is such a vagabond by nature she wonders if wandering isn't etched too deeply in his soul to make him grow bored and restless with his mostly domesticated life and leave. His days are peaceful and long, devoid of violence and adventure and this worries her greatly at times. It would hurt to come home and find him gone, now that she has grown used to him lurking about, glaring and cursing and eating all her food. Sometimes she runs home just to make sure he is still there and he'll just snort and look at her askance as if she is mad. The worst is when they walk past the sea and he gets this lost look in his eyes, staring out at the open waters. It terrifies her. She'll break if he leaves. She can't be too clingy or he'll get annoyed and leave, repelled by her actions but she fears if she is too distant he'll lose interest and head out. So she is sweet as much as possible and only screeches at him when he really deserves it, she cooks him dinner and doesn't demand that he get a job. His life is easy, she makes sure of it even if it complicates hers because he is someone and she desperately wants someone to be there.

He sees the fear in her eyes when she bursts into the house and in a way it pisses him off. Does she really think he would just skip town without so much as a 'thank-ya 'mam'? Another part of him delights in her attachment, pleased that she cares enough to be worried about him leaving. She even deviates from her normal behavior in an effort to keep him around. She needn't bother, he isn't going anywhere. And yet another part is upset at her distress, wanting to smooth away the furrows on her brow. So he lingers, ignoring the siren call of the sea that always brings death and pain. Instead he burrows his way even deeper into the stationary warmth of the hut, sinking his claws deeper and deeper. She thinks she is keeping him there but in reality he is slowly but surely binding her to him, desperate that she doesn't leave him like everything else in his life. She is the small ray of hope in the abyss that was his life thus far. When she falls asleep on the futon he has just recently been allowed to start sleeping on he runs his fingers down the curve of her spine and pulls her close to him, enjoying the thrill of intimacy he had never allowed himself before, something more exciting then the regulation wham bam thank you 'mam that has grown so banal in his life. It is exotic to wake up next to the same person every morning and even though his fingers itch to rip off her clothes he doesn't yet because the time isn't right. He steals kisses when doesn't expect it, pinning her to walls and sweeping her off her feet, all to hear her breathless gasp or feel her eager response, heedless of their surroundings. He likes it here, and he won't leave until she forces his ass out in the cold and even then he will probably bitch and scream about it. Sometimes he doubts he'll ever leave though, when he sees that soft look in her eyes and his wandering soul feels sated and at peace in those brief moments and that is a feeling worth pursuing.


	8. Fisherman

Rambling waffy nonsensical, random drabble because I'm extraordinarily happy because I had a real live SNOW DAY!

She waited anxiously on the wharf, hands wringing and occasionally shaking with nerves. Part of her was terrified that the fishing boat was actually an undercover pirate ship and he was going to wash up on shore in a million waterlogged pieces. The sails of the ship appeared over the horizon and a wave of pure relief swept through her.

He sprung over the side of the boat to the dock in a typical display of agility, a shiteating grin on his face at her nervously relieved appearance. Loud accolades were shouted at him from the crew and captain, offers of permanent jobs and higher positions called out to him as he approached her, money and a string of fish in hand. He accepted his sword from her small hands and boldly slung an arm around her shoulders.

"Miss me?"

His grinning face seemed even darker from his days at sea. Pleased with his praise and the fact she was snuggling up under his arm with no complainant as to his most likely offensive smell.

"Yeah I did. I just knew the ship was gonna sink. The crew seemed to like you."

"Capt'n says I got a full time job if I ever want it."

Fuu wrinkled her nose; she didn't want him gone for days and days at a time on a regular basis. He pulled her closer against him, tucking her against his lean frame.

"Look 'a these," he crowed as he proudly presented a string of massive fish.

Fuu beamed up at him, mouth watering at the prospects.

"They're huge," she exclaimed, enjoying his childish pride at being praised so much in one morning.

Once they arrived at the hut she took the fish from him, idly marveling at their sheer size.

"Go take a bath, I'll start dinner."

Mugen ruffled her hair with fishy fingers, hooting with glee at her squeal of disgust. He skirted her wildly swinging fists and darted out the door, heading towards the river.

He returned shortly, dripping wet and naked from the waist up, geta thudding merrily against the ground. Fuu remained outwardly impassive but nearly fainted when he burst into the hut all glistening with his dark hair plastered to his skull.

"Why aren't you wearing clothes Mugen?"

"Their diiiirrrtttyyy," he whined, presenting the grungy clothes to Fuu.

An exasperated sigh wrenched from her lips as she took them from him and flung them into the scant pile of laundry. Bending over the fire she stirred the soup and turned the fish roasting over the flames.

Mugen sidled up behind her, pulling her completely off the ground, her body folded over his forearm. Her body writhed in protest while she squalled loudly.

"MUGEN, YOU PUT ME DOWN YOU DUMB JERK!!!!!!!!!"

"Nope."

A dramatic, prolonged sigh was punctuated by an elbow to the stomach.

"How about put me down or your dinner will burn, you fool."

With a pathetic sigh he gently placed her back down sliding his hands down her sides much slower then need be. A cerise flush crossed her cheeks and she spun to the fire to hide it from Mugen. He perched his head on her shoulder, winding his lean arms around her svelte torso. Frisky and affectionate after a few days at sea, he was immensely pleased by her skittish blush. Planting a fond kiss on her cheek he inspected the food over her shoulder.

"Looks good," he said reaching for the fish.

Without batting an eyelash Fuu's hand lashed out to smack his hand away from the simmering food.

"Not yet."

Nuzzling her with abandon he bit her earlobe before skittering away, bare chest gleaming in the firelight. Her surprised squeal made him strut more then walk around the house, emanating male pride.

"Ready when you are sweetheart," he drawled with a smug cockiness.

Fuu merely rolled her eyes and ladled the fish stew into some bowls while handing him a skewer of roasted fish.

She grinned to herself at his satisfied moans as he tore into the food. It made her feel good to know that she could wrest those noises from him with only food. She didn't think Mugen was a marrying man but dammit if she didn't prove she could make a good wife (even if she could be a tad ill-tempered and not quite even-keeled at times.) Bah, fiery was good. And Mugen would make a lazy, unpredictable, unexpectedly affectionate husband with a penchant for growling and cursing and violence. Goody. He's lucky he's cute.

"Hey bitch," Mugen grunted, rubbing his distended belly.

Poking him viciously with her foot Fuu glared in reply.

"What?"

Bronze arms pulled her over to him, tucking her against his body; blissfully ignorant to her feeble protests.

"I missed ya."

Her protests immediately stopped and she smiled at him with startling sincerity, snuggling up against his clean, mostly bare body.

"I missed you too Mugen."


	9. Momo

Utterly ridiculous….

Mugen had only one threat to his monopoly on Fuu's affection. It was small and cute and often latched on to his face. So he set about remedying the hitch to his total domination of Fuu's attention. First he thought he should just eliminate the annoying threat. Upon further review, however, he discovered that would be detrimental to his cause. So he decided that he would win Fuu's undivided attention and affection by winning over the love bandit that was pilfering her love.

At first it grated against his very being, being nice to the vermin that liked to attach its furry body to his face. Many times he thought about just biting the thing's stomach out, but Fuu would probably cry and he really REALLY hated to see her cry. So he nobly bore it (with loud, muffled complaints).

Soon the annoyance ceased to be so annoying, and grew to be almost disgustingly cute. It would curl up in his wild, unruly hair and peer out at the world from its follicular nest. To his growing disdain he found himself idly playing with more and more. His long fingers stroking and fluttering gently all over her tiny, furry body. Her chirps and squeaks became endearing instead of strident and today he actually found himself buying the little rat a bag full of sunflower seeds; her favorite treat.

Fuu was filled with the urge to giggle and squeal everytime she caught her big, tough, macho skirt-chasing pirate playing with a tiny, furry squirrel. It was cute beyond words and she just couldn't contain the need to hug him everytime she did.

"Did you buy Momo sunflower seeds?"

Her excited squeal melded with Momo's happy chirps as she scrambled all over his body in an attempt to pinpoint the exact location of the tasty smell of the seeds.

He merely snarled something crude and tough-sounding in response, hoping to save his rough image.

"Awwww you and Momo are friends! How precious!"

Appalled at being referred to as precious Mugen huffed and spun away from Fuu, Momo riding atop his head. She chirped merrily from her lofty perch, black eyes twinkling with delight at the prospect of precious, precious seeds. With hands sly from years of pick-pocketing Mugen slipped Momo a seed, cheering up at her happy squeak. He turned to face Fuu, Momo scampering down his arm to sit on the back of one hand. A single swarthy finger absently scratched her head as he leveled a bored look at Fuu.

"Yeah, well I'm still gonna eat the flying rat."


	10. Babysitting

See if you can guess the part where I ran out of steam and floundered about uselessly. (aka the part where this gets real sucky like real fast.) Oh yeah and reviews make me grin like an idiot so keep them coming so my roommate can look at me like I'm crazy when I just grin at my computer. She likes to do that.

Dark, dewy eyes gazed up into his and he stared back with a raised brow. Little hands clenched the hem of his shorts in tiny fists. He snorted in irritation, surprised at the lack of reaction from the little girl. That snort sent most grown men scrambling away. She just looked up and grinned a lopsided smile, squealing and gurgling with delight as she tugged on his pants. She abruptly latched on to his leg and cooed, nuzzling his knee with her little face. He chortled and bent to scoop her up.

He was sitting on the ground with a giggling toddler in his lap when she returned from the market. She froze before he noticed her presence and watched him play with the little girl.

"Yeah, well, I guess you're pretty cute. I bet people tell you that all the time don't they sweetheart?"

A giggle and squeal answered him as he simultaneously played peek-a-boo.

"Well I guess all girls just dig me no matter what age they are, huh?"

The little girl laughed and buried her face in his billowing red jacket. He ruffled her dark hair and leaned back against the wall, letting the girl play with Momo as she sat in his lap.

"Where the hell is Fuu? I mean come on, how long does it take to get some freaking groceries? Oi, princess, how long?"

The toddler merely cooed and played with Momo.

Smiling, Fuu entered the room.

"I see you took to babysitting after all Mugen."

Alarmed at being caught red-handed, he simply snorted and continued to idly pet the little girl's hair.

"No Fuu, I'm just good with women."

His cocky grin didn't diminish even as the girl started to tug on his hair.

"See she can't keep her hands off me Fuu, you better watch out she's younger AND more pleasant then you."

A whack to the head only encouraged him as he and the little girl laughed, his deep bellowing laughter blending with her dulcet giggles.

"C'mon Emiko, let's go away from that nasty old pirate eh?"

Emiko squealed and pointed at Mugen.

"Pirate Pirate!"

"Yes he is a big scary pirate," Fuu lifted her arms into the arm and made claws with her hands.

"Pssssh, don't listen to her sweetheart, she's crazy from eating rotten food because she is a bottomless pit."

An outraged shriek pierced the air as Fuu punched Mugen in the back of the head, ignoring his pained yelp as she deftly scooped Emiko from his lap.

"Stupid man," she groused, propping Emiko in her arms.

"But I'm your stupid man… So feed me."

A look of disbelief twisted her features.

"Are you joking?"

"What? You went to the market to get food didn't ya?"

"This coming from the man that just called me an old, unpleasant, crazed, bottomless pit?"

"Don't worry your cute enough to make it work, now feeeeeeed me. Look Emiko is so hungry."

Fuu blushed at being cute, having always been susceptible to flattery. Mugen sidled up and untangled Emiko from her, jouncing her onto his back where she trilled in euphoria at the prospect at a piggyback ride.

Nuzzling Fuu's neck he nudged her towards the fire to cook their dinner. Fuu smiled over her shoulder at the lean man walking away with a giggling three-year-old clinging to his slightly swaying back. Maybe he really did have a way with most women regardless of age but part of her wanted it to be him having a secret soft spot for children. Either way he was just about the most adorably out of place picture with a squirrel and toddler using him as a jungle-gym like some benevolent giant. Oh well she would just have to announce how precious he was tomorrow… loudly… in public.


	11. Scared

MUSH!

He saw it in the way she put up with his shit and the way she beamed whenever he was the slightest bit complimentary towards something she did. It was apparent in the way she washed his clothes and cooked his food. In the way she let him kiss her and returned the favor with equal fervor. The naked fondness and adoration in her eyes alone made it obvious. She either loved him or was well on her way there. It made him struggle with years of ingrained bad habits. He tried not to drink so much and had yet to go to a brothel since he found her. His fingers were considerably less sticky these days and he found himself doing a slew of odd, but honest, jobs these days. For her he tried to live up to it. He jealously guarded that love, having been starved for it his entire life. He nuzzled and kissed and never, never pressured.

It scared him, this love that lived in her eyes. It scared him, but not nearly as much as the fact that on some level, he loved her too.


	12. Transcendence

Tehheeee badly written liberally censored smut.

His fingers looked dark against the fairness of her face as they stroked over her cheek. His back was resting against the wall of the hut as they basked in the warm sun, Fuu curled up in the lap. Large hands stroked over her hair, back, face and shoulders, very content to feel her there. He would often forget just how small she was until she was silent like this. When she spoke she did so with such fire she seemed larger then she really was. She was so very small against his lean, wiry form. He dropped a kiss on her forehead and smirked at the flush that bloomed on her cheeks. She was really just too cute.

He was solid and hard beneath her fingertips as she brushed them along his chest, her eyes fixated on the swarthy swath of skin that formed his neck. Her eyes drifted up to his, which had relinquished the exquisite belligerence that they normally held. They looked as docile as she had ever seen them as he lay back against the hut, cuddling her to his chest. Her fingers slid up his chest to sift through his surprisingly soft hair. He was so beautiful it broke her heart sometimes. She was so afraid he would leave; less now then before but old fears die hard.

He looked down at her while she looked up at him with such big soft eyes it made him scared. He knew nothing of how to make her happy. He had no experience with women beyond bedding them and he suddenly found himself with a girl he had no intention of bedding then abandoning. His new favorite game was to make her blush since it made him laugh. Dipping his head his brushed his lips long the gentle curve of her neck, settling at the junction were it met her thin shoulders. A shudder wracked her body and he grinned against her pale skin. Yes if there was one thing he knew it was bedding women.

Fuu's fingers formed fists, clumps of dark, unruly hair caught in-between her slender fingers. A small broken whimper escaped, much to her embarrassment, and Mugen doubled his former languid ministrations on her neck. She wiggled around as the sensation overwhelmed her. Pearly teeth took an earlobe and nipped gently, and Fuu sighed so breathily she wondered if he even heard it. She finally moaned when she felt his calloused hands slide down her body to cup her rear. Her body arched like a bow into him and she almost missed the dark rippling chuckled he rumbled out at her earnest response.

His blood was steadily simmering into a riotous boil at her response to every fleeting touch. Abruptly he stood, easily catching her little form as it started to fall. Her surprised yelp went unanswered and he merely carried her inside, away from prying eyes. A tinge of fear entered her doe eyes and he placed a loud kiss on her cheek, trying to ease her. He pressed her into the unmade futon, his body tight and thrumming with excitement. It had been a long time for him to subsist on stolen kisses and he was ready to devour her whole. She was willing but scared and he nuzzled her neck with a gentleness she wasn't aware he possessed, kissing and licking and sucking. Kissing her while he hovered over her, his perpetually nimble fingers made quick work of her obi. With hands almost quivering in anticipation he slowly and reverently unwrapped her first her kimono and then her juban.

A short laugh broke free and anger instantly leapt into her eyes.

"I guess you really do look slender in clothes princess, these aren't half bad."

"I told you, you dumbass," she snarled back, her earlier fear replaced with a fervent desire to perform well and annoyance.

He smirked and watched her face flush as he captured a taut, binding-covered peak in his mouth. He purred in satisfaction at the mew she emitted as he began to suckle her. Her soft pants fueled him and with a terrifying swiftness he had run a tanto through her chest bindings. He laughed at her momentary fright and nipped the mound gently, laving it with his tongue. Her hips ground upwards, instinctively meshing with his and he shuddering from the strain of taking not ripping off his clothes and brutally taking her right there.

Her hands shoved at his red haori, pushing it down to where it hung shapelessly off hiss elbows as he leaned over her. Taking the (rather forceful) hint he quickly shed it and his under shirt and let her pale, dexterous little hands ghosting over his chest.

Clothes were peeled off and flung carelessly across the hut, and his dark skin was pressed against her fair skin. His mouth and hands were everywhere, sinking and probing and licking and biting.

He was feral and hot and he seared her as he lowered himself onto her. Kissing her neck gently as he pressed into her, he stilled at her pained whimper. Long forearms braced him over her, and he pressed his lips to her forehead as he arched his back and furrowed into her again, eliciting a prolonged moan. The mixture of pain and pleasure had her head spinning and tossing back and forth. Cries for increased speed brought him out of his uncharacteristic tenderness and pushed him into familiar territory. Utilizing his inhuman flexibility in a way that had her keening into the dim light of the hut, he twisted his hips and lunged forward at the same time. Fingers scored his back and dug into the oscillating muscles beneath his swarthy skin.

"M-mugen."

He grunted in reply pistoning in and out to her continued delight. With an ebullient cry she arched up against him before sagging down bonelessly against the futon, her glazed dreamy eyes watching the wolfish grin that burgeoned on his face die as his thrusts lost their crazed finesse. Lowering himself down onto her he gathered her in his arms, nuzzling her neck.

As he laid there cuddling the small girl he wondered if she realized the enormity of what had just transpired. Whether she grasped that he had definitely transcended from transitory to permanent.

As she laid there pressing her sweaty body against his larger, sunkissed frame, she wondered if he realized that she would give herself to no one but him. That he had completely stolen her attention and would hold her captive to her dying day, regardless of whether he wanted said attention.

So they laid there, each wondering about the other and clinging more tightly, anchoring themselves subconsciously against the feelings of uncertainty that endeavored to sweep them apart.

She felt better when he gently kissed her forehead and tucked her under against his chest.

He felt better when she rubbed her head against his chin and smiled up at him in a wistful, adoring fashion.

So they fell asleep in the dim light of the hut in a tangled heap and couldn't have been happier.


	13. Lapis Lazuli

Fluffy. This was going to be the big confession one but it just didn't turn out that way. Sorry kids. Soon enough. Also review and I'll give you all a naked Mugen (or a naked Fuu I mean if you're into that sort of stuff XD haha jk)

He watched with frightening intensity at the couple in the market. His aimless steps had stilled when he heard the girl's shrill, happy squeal. She was staring at a small parcel in her hands that her husband had presented to her. The woman laughed and hugged him, kissing him on the cheek as she eagerly opened it. He cocked his head to the side and watched the exchange.

----------

She was late getting out of the teahouse and more or less dead on her feet as she began the walk home. Night ensconced everything in its tenebrous shroud, shadows staining corners and alleys even darker shades of black. She shivered; usually Mugen was there to walk her home at this time of night. Every shadow seemed to be shifting and reaching out towards her with gnarled fingers. She was being irrational and she knew it. She had made this walk many times under far worse conditions then she was currently under to no ill-effect. She had recently just become accustomed to having Mugen around and that was probably not wise seeing as how he had no real obligation to stay. She stared angrily at the sea as she walked down the road, her eyes suspicious and accusing. Stupid Ocean, she was pretty sure that if anything stole her away it would the freedom of the open sea. She was just as sure that the sea and Mugen didn't always play nice and he was very likely to get hurt or shipped back to prison for piracy. Lately he had gone out with the fishermen a lot and had been bringing in a fair amount of money since they paid him well. Being a former pirate he was a skilled sailor and this made him invaluable when they could coerce him to come out.

The hut's windows were soft squares of glowing light as she approached it. He had just overhauled the roof last week. The random talents and skills he had picked up in his twenty-three years never ceased to amaze her. Her hut was practically brand new with all the work he had done on it since he had gotten here. She wearily pushed open the door to see Mugen sitting on the floor with his back to her. He was staring at something in his hands while the fire cast flickering shadows over his face.

"Mugen," she asked; concern evident in her voice.

He looked almost hesitantly over his shoulder at her, the object of his attention cradled in his hands which were resting in his lap.

"What's wrong?"

His eyes looked wild and almost scared for a second before they cooled into their normal shrewd cunning. His hands furled around the item and he spun to face her, shoving the thing unceremoniously into her hands.

Fuu looked down at the bundle of silk then back to Mugen who offered no explanation only a mean look and his back.

She carefully opened the bundle and gasped in surprise. A long string of impossibly blue beads was nestled in the silk. Thin golden veins ran through some of the beautiful, opaque beads and she had never seen such beautiful beads. Large teardrop earrings accompanied them and she knew she had never seen this stone before. Another bracelet of braided rope was nestled amongst the finer jewelry and it drew her eye.

She crossed the room and plopped without pretension into his lap.

She smiled up at him with such a happy face it made him lose his macho scowl and smile back down at her, forgetting his embarrassment at being sweet.

"Where did you get these, I've never seen anything like them."

His gaze became shifty and he smiled wickedly.

"Some old friends just came back in from an extended trip at sea," he said dismissively. Fuu suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. So the goods came from pirates, which made them valuable contraband goods from some exotic providence far flung from little Japan.

"My ears aren't pierced."

"I can pierce them. I pierced mine."

Fear spiked into her at the thought but subsided once she looked to his unmangled ears and how prettily glossy the stone was.

"What's this bracelet?"

He looked to the side sheepishly.

"Sailors make them and give them to their old ladies when they go off to sea. Usually they wear them first and use them to wipe sweat off but I haven't been out to sea to muck it up."

A huge, touched smile graced her face and she eagerly worked the bracelet over her small wrist. She carefully looped the beads around her neck and snuggled into his chest her earrings cupped in her hand.

"You know you did something legitimately sweet and cute right?"

He grumbled dismissively but it was all for show since he wrapped her up in his arms and pulled her closer. An evil chuckle interrupted her peace as he propped his head on top of hers.

"What?"

"I get to pierce your ears."

"I know, I'm scared."

"I'll be gentle," he purred in a wholly unconvincing manner as he goosed her.


	14. Earrings

Rapidly written fluff just ignore the glaring grammatical errors because I just refuse to proofread right now.

She sat rigidly still as he held the flame up to the thick needle. His face was placid and eyes had the same smoothness of a halcyon sea. She, however, was hardly suppressing her shivers of anxiety.

"Ready?"

He sounded like he was asking her if she liked rice, not like he was asking her if she was prepared to have holes punched in her ears by a bloodthirsty pirate.

"No."

Wide fearful eyes greeted his and he pressed his lips to her forehead.

"I would never hurt you."

His voice was laced with a somberness that spoke of greater meaning then suggested at face value.

"It will be uncomfortable but you've had worse."

With a flick of his wrist she felt the metal pierce through her fleshy ear lobe and she felt Mugen slide in her earring with surprising delicacy.

Once the process was repeated he brought over the polished piece of glass they used as a mirror and she admired her beautiful earrings and newly pierced ears. She felt pretty and high class with her rare lapis earrings and necklace. But her fingers always brushed over the soft braided rope that he gave her.

He smiled. She really looked like a princess. Maybe he should work until he could buy her a new kimono; hers was looking a little raggedy lately. Maybe something low-cut. Nah he would buy her something a samurai's daughter should wear because she wouldn't buy it for herself. She would probably say they didn't have the money. But really hime-chan needed a pretty kimono to match that jewelry. If she knew how much money that set was worth she might have a stroke. The jewelry had been bought a severely reduced price from some old buddies from Ryukyu who had gotten the jewelry from a ship heading to China from the Middle East. It was real lapis lazuli, a rare and expensive stone that brought huge profits when scalped. But he loved the way her fingers kept playing with the simple bracelet he had made her. If she was a princess then he was the illicit stable boy lover.

When he saw her sometimes he got angry because he knew she could do so much better then him if she looked at some lord with a hint of the look she gave him. But he knew that he couldn't give her up. He knew she wouldn't make him either.

"I'm not leaving. Ever."

It was sudden and abrupt and spilled out in an angry, confused rush.

Fuu looked up from the glass instantly. Happy tears formed a film over her calf eyes and she flung herself into his arms, burying her face in him.

He felt the tears seeping into his shirt but ignored it, pressing her possessively into him. His fingers undid her hair and he raked them through her heavy locks.

She looked up at him with a heartbreakingly honest smile and pressed a chaste kiss to the tip of his nose.

"Mugen… I love you. So please don't say that unless you really mean it."

Fear and joy warred for dominance over his poor, beleaguered mind. He pressed a kiss to her lips and laughed against her neck, arms nearly crushing her in a vice so tight as to almost be worrisome.

" I bet your mom woulda been thrilled eh? Pops too."

She just smiled at him.

"I think mom would have liked you after a while. And dad owes you a lot… I.. I-I'm JUST SO HAPPY!"

He swallowed and steeled himself.

"This means I can keep you right?"

"I've been yours for a long time Mugen."

"Hey brat."

"Yes?"

"I love you too."


	15. Broken

Why am I not doing my paper!?!?! Its due tomorrow and instead I am writing semi angsty fluff with lime at the end. WTF!

Her eyes shimmered with tears as they gazed up at him accusing and wounded and overall petrified. He did his best to look surly and impassive and not panicked and remorseful. That wouldn't do, he had to be big and scary and a jackass. You didn't miss jackasses. When a jackass was lost at sea you don't languished in despair over their death.

"Why do you have to do this," she sobbed brokenly into her hands, her knees giving out. As she sank to the floor a broken crying mess he felt true remorse for the first time in the black stain that was his life. Pain swelled within him at the knowledge he caused this. This was something he had to do and her concern for him overrode her understanding.

Stooping down to pick her up he reeled backwards when her small fist smashed into his chest with heartbreak-fueled strength. The resulting pain was more emotional then physical and it worried him that he was so affected by her rebuttal. He backed off with upsettingly disturbed eyes like a kicked puppy and looked down at her seething form. Collecting her limbs she launched to her feet and glared at him. Shaking her head she pivoted and started off towards the teahouse.

Slow shuffling steps brought him to the shallow cove where the pirate ship as moored. A slew of familiar faces assailed him and called out to him, excited to have someone with his experience and reputation aboard. The heist was ambitious and dangerous and promised an enormous payoff for them all if it succeeded. He scrubbed his face with long tawny fingers and climbed aboard in a haze of confusion and guilt.

He watched the sea roll like the hips of a sashaying woman and wondered what she was doing. He missed her more then he cared to admit and had withdrawn from most of the crew; engaging in an uncharacteristic abstinence from violence. He made her another bracelet from soft, salty rope that he used to mop his brow and wipe sea spray from his even tanner face. He just stared at the clear liquid that was calling out to him, ready and willing to sear his throat and numb his pain. He roughly brushed aside hookers and women that were ready and willing to lie on their backs and slake the lust that burned like a funeral pyre. Her face haunted him and he ached to touch her. It seemed like years since he had seen her and he began to fear she wouldn't accept him when he returned. Fuu would not care that he returned a much wealthier man, she would only know that he left her, not understanding he left for her sake alone. He was scared and it pained him that such a small, slip of a girl had brought him so low.

The sand made a soft crunching sound under his geta as he trudged up the beach. Shouts echoed behind him as his crew screamed their goodbyes and congratulations and accolades (because he was, in fact, an excellent pirate). Townsfolk whispered furiously as he trudged past like a man walking to the gallows. Gossip about him was rampant and many disapproved of his relationship with Fuu. They saw only that the town darling had taken up with riff raff that lived in her home and kissed her and made no move to marry her. They saw him suddenly disappear then sulk back in weeks later.

He couldn't blame them for their concern; he was beside himself with the need to see her safe even if he wasn't sure she would even let him in the hut.

As he approached the hut he heard a familiar chirp and looked into the auspices of the nearest tree to find Momo chirping merrily at him. He smiled ruefully at the little squirrel and held out his hand. The rodent immediately glided into his palm and scrambled up his arm to nest in his hair. He quietly slipped off his shoes at the door and slid it open, looking guiltily inside. He crossed the empty room to their futon, his nose full of her scent. Collapsing gracelessly onto the futon he nuzzled the sheets, taking in her smell and trying not to think about her possibly volatile reaction to his return. So he lay in the bed and played with Momo, completely lost in thought.

His head swiveled slowly to face the open door, his eyes glazed and not really seeing. She was frozen on the stoop and the rigidness of her little body gradually dissipated the anxiety-induced fog that had seized his brain. For once his feral eyes were not sharp and wild and cutting; they were mournful and longing and soft. He looked up at her from the place they had once slept in a snarl of arms and legs and he was stripped of all his walls of thorns. He looked young; at only 24 he still was fairly young. He looked tired and so alone and destitute of the fire and anger and violent passion that was Mugen that she felt a physical ache bloom in her chest.

Tears tracked down her cheek and she sank down to the floor, doe eyes regarding him as if she didn't believe he was really there.

"I won't ever leave again."

He crawled over to her, spurred into action by her tears.

"I had ta do it Fuu, I needed to do this. I got paid for it and I'm alright. And I missed you and please don't kick me out."

His words were an earnest rush, uncharacteristic and scared. His hands gripped hers and one raised up to cup her cheek. He touched his forehead to hers, scared by her silence and overwhelmed with the need to just be near her. He was starved for love his whole life and after having a taste of someone caring for him he couldn't imagine going back to the life of a loveless drifter.

"I could buy you a better hut now or build you one. I had to do it, I had to, I had to."

She just looked at him with tear clouded eyes, one fair hand coming up to wind her fingers in his hair.

"Please don't ever leave again Mugen, please please. It was so terrible, what if you had gotten caught. You can only cheat death so many times. I don't care about new huts or whether you are a loaded prince or penniless pirate, I just want you with me."

He crushed his mouth to hers, devouring her like a starving man. Swarthy hands were everywhere and he suckled hard on the juncture of her neck, staking and claiming.

In the haze of lust that she found herself lost in, Fuu could hardly tell up from down and she was yelling until her throat was raw and Mugen hammered away until she was nearly sobbing for release.

"MU-gen," she cried out, arching up and sinking blunt teeth into his shoulder to belatedly muffle her screams.

As his hips surged against hers one final time he swore to make it up to her, even if he had to spend all day in the futon showing her how much he missed her.


	16. Of Pirates and Princes

I am just on a drabble roll. Perhaps I am delusional since I haven't slept at all tonight and I hardly slept this weekend. Damn college. Damn procrastination. (yay Mugen)

Fuu had a distinctly different view of Mugen then everyone else. They looked at the bands on his limbs and recoiled in fear. They saw a convict. They saw a dangerous looking man with three faint scars on his cheek and a sinfully indulgent grin. They saw a violent man they found out was a former pirate. They saw him snatch up the most beautiful woman the town had ever seen and they couldn't understand.

Fuu looked at her pirate and saw some wild savage prince. She saw adventure and fire embodied in flesh and it enthralled her. He was wild and foreign and utterly beautiful. She saw those bands of blue and saw a survivor. She saw someone who was the product of a rough, horrible environment and survived to be a decent person (even if he hid it from the world under layers of hostility and violence). She saw her loyal guardian, who had saved her more times then she could count. She saw a beautiful man whose very face bore scars he got fighting for her, protecting her. She saw her vagrant, morally-questionable knight and she would cry if it were any other way.


	17. Whimsy

She was prone to fits of whimsy nowadays. Sometimes when she saw a particularly loving couple she would picture it being Mugen and herself instead. She knew that he loved her but he was uneasy with showing it. He would often negate anything sweet he did by being overly harsh directly afterwards. So when they walked past a couple being married under trees that showered them with sakura blooms, her steps slowed and she almost giggled at the image of Mugen in such a potently romantic and sweet setting. He slanted an odd glance at her as she stared at the small wedding, wondering why in the seven hells she had stopped walking. Her daze was broken before he could voice a loud whining complaint and she smiled absently at him before continuing down the road.


	18. Races Already Run

I don't know where these are all coming from.

He sighed as he watched another cozy pair stroll past, their fingers entwined and the woman demurely giggling for her husband. The wives of Japan were obedient workhorses at the peasant level and purely opulent decorations in the houses of nobles. Fuu would never be obedient and defer to any capricious whim he had, though he knew at times she tried to fight her nature to play the part of wife as she saw it to the best of her ability. It didn't matter to her that she wasn't his wife. She cooked for him and washed his clothes and he fixed her house, had recently brought in more money then either had seen in a long time, if ever, and acted as a human blanket on cold nights. He was content with the spitfire that was Fuu. It did not bother him that he lived in her hut not the other way around. He liked to yell so her sometimes bellicose personality caused limited drama in the long run.

He was beginning to understand that she wanted what someone of her former station of life should have had, whether she knew she wanted it or not. She wanted to be courted and romanced. Or at least have him display some sign that he really did care between snarling matches.

Mugen was good a slew of random things; pleasing women, drinking, fighting, sailing, fishing and carpentry. Romancing young girls wasn't one of them. He had gotten by on hookers and raw, sultry sex appeal his entire life and he never cared enough to wine and dine the women he laid with. She confused him, forced him to think about things that he had never considered before. He really did love the bitch deep down and wanted her to be happy. She never really demanded anything, content to just be with him. Content to brave the gossip of the town about how she was living with a man, a man that openly kissed her and dwelt in her house unsupervised, a man who was neither a fiancé nor a husband. She just ignored the naysayers and laughed with her friends when they squealed over his dark appeal. He had won over most of the waitresses at the teahouse when they saw how he secretly treated Fuu like a princess and when the lot of them caught him napping out back with Emiko and Momo curled up in his lap. He had merely raised an eyebrow at their shocked expressions and reveled in the fact that he was once again consistently unpredictable. Emiko, the toddler of one of the waitresses, was completely taken with Mugen, and would bat at his earrings in utter fascination when he hoisted her up. So he one day he started to hold her hand in public and he even managed to choke out a few more 'I love yous'. He even babysat Emiko after his mother became equally as taken with him, all to garner the favor of a girl he had already won. Sometimes his life made no sense.


	19. Nameless

I'm not dead! But this should be shot dead. At least its so short you don't have to much shit to endure. Har

He didn't have a name to give her. It hit him like a bolt of lightening out of nowhere. All his life he had been known simply as Mugen. He had no surname to tack onto Fuu if he ever did marry her. This upset him more then it should have. He scoured his brain for any instance where someone had uttered a last name. He brooded for many days, worrying Fuu and disappearing for long periods during the day and night. He brooded and pondered only to turn up with jack squat. It became more and more apparent that he had nothing to offer her… not even a name.


	20. House

Angst then fluff. I don't know where I am headed these days. Did I mention it was very unrealistic fluff?

He started to disappear for long periods of time at odd hours during the day and night. He stopped showing up at her work to walk her home and despair began to bloom in her heart. She saw it as the beginning of the end. He had finally grown bored and restless and this aimlessly, unaccountable wandering was the advent of his eventual departure. She turned sad, longing eyes on him when he returned ragged and weary. It got to the point where he wouldn't come in until after she had fallen into a slumber plagued by sad, colorless dreams which reminded her that all men were temporary fixtures in her life.

One night she laid there quiet and still, staving off sleep until he returned. And as she feigned sleep in the futon they shared he trudged in at some ungodly hour and collapsed beside her. Long tawny fingers gingerly traced her jawline and patted her hair with aching delicacy. It was the first time he had touched her in a week. He molded his frame to the back of her and trembling, he nuzzled her neck before rolling over and becoming distant once again. He was totally unaware of the silvery tears that rolled down her pale cheeks.

It hurt her to live like this, watching him as if from a distance. Watching him come and go with a sometimes guilty secretive gleam in his feral eyes. But then sometimes he looked at her with such longing and turmoil in his eyes that it made her knees buckle and heart hammer painfully in her chest.

One day he came in after a couple hours of being a virtual ghost and she almost cried she was so upset. She had yet to lose it in front of him and she was shaking with the effort to bottle it in now. He was wild her pirate, and she wanted him to be happy. The only thing that made her appetite wane and her stomach churn was the thought that he wasn't just wandering off but that he had found some other woman and spent much of his waking hours with her. The thought rose unbidden to her mind and she dropped her bowl of rice as she struggled to choke down a particularly vicious sob.

The resulting shatter caught his attention as did the strangled sob. Alarm and guilt exploded in his eyes and he crossed the room in a blur. She was limp in his arms as he caught her up and mumbled feverishly into her hair, his grip tight and eyes sad and wild at the same time.

He carried her hysterical form to the futon and kissed her tearstained cheeks. He had no tender words to close the floodgates and explain the last few weeks. He simply kissed and licked her tears away and moved onto her lips until she was too distracted to remember how upset she was. With skilled fingers he unwrapped her kimono, slowly uncovering every inch of her. As each creamy, pale bit of skin was exposed he smothered it in soft, open mouthed kissed. He suckled pert, rosy peaks until he back arched and she subconsciously spread her legs in invitation. He took great care as he slid two bronze fingers into her welcoming warmth. His eyes looked directly into hers as his mouth descended on a harden nub, suckling brutally until she was grinding into his face. She cried out as he moaned into her, the moan vibrating against her in a toe-curling fashion.

"Oh god Fuu, oh god."

His voice was strained and earnest.

He crawled up her body and rose up on his palms. She moaned as she felt him settle into the cradle of her thighs and push in releasing a sigh of pure contentment as he rocked in and out softly, nailing that one spot inside each time he did.

"M-more, please please."

He growled in approval and slammed into her with a snap of his slender hips. Each thrust drove directly into that delta of sensation that had spots dancing behind her eyes. When his nearly brutal thrusts sped up she lost the battle with a prolonged, breathy wail and sank bonelessly beneath him. Distracted, she dreamily noticed he didn't pull out before he moaned and flopped down on top of her, pressing her pleasantly into the futon.

She clung to him, afraid and feeling despair start to filter through her post orgasmic flush with its hanger-ons doubt and remorse. If he had another woman then he was playing them both. Playing them very well from the way her body hungered for his touch and her soul cried for his love. She didn't want to think about the what-ifs she just wanted to lie there and pretend that this could last forever. That he wouldn't be gone for hours tomorrow without letting anyone know where he is.

After another week or two she was resigned to it. She would pathetically cling to whatever time he would give her because she was weak and she hated it. But she hadn't the strength to kick him out or scream at him. She just wanted him back.

He walked in looking scared and nervous and reached out his hand.

"I got something ta show ya."

She quietly took his hand and followed him back out of their meager hut.

"I know I haven't been around much and I'm sorry ta have worried you. I just had so much shit on my mind it was kinda driving me crazy."

He felt her hand contract around his own out of fear or concern, he wasn't sure which.

They walked in silence for a while, both distant and vaguely hopeful. Mugen knew the stunt he pulled was both dangerous and hurtful. Fuu wondered if he was going to tell her he was leaving.

They entered a small clearing on the very edge of the woods that bordered the sea. Fuu gasped as she saw a newly built little house situated in the middle of the clearing. She looked to Mugen to see a childish anticipation in his eyes.

"I can't give you a noble name or a lot of money. But I can give you this."

With a loud sob she wound her arms around his waist and cried into his chest.

"I can't believe you built me a house. I thought you were leaving me you bastard," she cried happily, nuzzling his chest.

"Stupid girl, I told you I wasn't leaving."

Dragging her to the door he paused.

"Open your door Hime."

With trembling hands she slid open the door and gasp at the inside. Though small the house was perfect in her eyes. Wooden floor gleamed with a polished brilliance and there was a fire pit for cooking and a hallway that led from the main room with a few doors indicating other rooms.

She kissed him on the cheek and scampered into her new home, marveling at this and that.

"So you're going to live with me in this house?"

Her voice was shy and hopeful.

"Like I'm not gonna live in the house I built," he grumbled while tucking her under his arm. He had missed touching her. It had built up until he had seen her crying that one night a few weeks ago. He had been so insecure and feeling insecure was alien and scary. He just needed to do something that would prove to her and him that he was worthy in someway. He was rough and dark and had no noble blood. He was a young pirate from a penal colony on Ryukyu. He was forever branded in a very visible way as a convict. He was young and brash and scared but he loved her. Loved her enough to gamble with more then his heart. With a kiss pressed to temple he let his hand drift idly over her stomach.


	21. Changes

One day I'll proofread, I SWEAR!

Lean muscles corded in his lean arms as he hauled harshly on the ropes, his large rough hands clasped firmly around the biting fibers. Fuu watched on in appreciation as he helped moor the large ship. Any worries and cares seemed hazy and distant as she watched him deftly tie the huge ropes to the dock. The captain of the ship grinned, his leathery, weather-beaten skin crinkling around his eyes. He hopped down onto the dock and clapped Mugen on the back.

"Where'd ya learn to work a ship like that boy?"

Mugen only grinned and shrugged, not willing to tout his years of piracy just yet.

"Well son, if ye ever want to get off this dock there is a spot for ya on my ship."

"You got it pops."

The captain pressed a couple coins in Mugen's hand and proceeded down the dock.

Today Mugen was helping out at the docks, bringing in ships and helping unload and load others. Fuu was dangling her feet in the water and munching on a rice ball as she watched him toil. It was unbearably pleasant to watch him scramble about with a thin sheen of sweat on his bare chest as he worked. When there was a momentary lull in activity he waltzed over and plunked gracelessly down beside her. With a sly, quick movement he leaned over and bit off a huge chunk of her rice ball. He grinned a ricey smile at her resulting outburst and dodged a wayward fist. He basked in the sun on his little break and let his skin attain an even deeper bronze. He played with the sleeve of her kimono and pressed kisses to her fingertips as gulls cried strident lullabies that lulled the pirate into a dreamy, peaceful state.

He propped his head in her lap and watched the gulls wheel about overhead, waiting for scraps from the fishermen. He could have purred when he felt Fuu begin to scratch his scalp in slow lazy strokes. With a far off grin he sat up and ruffled her hair, smiling at her disgruntled snort. He returned to his job of the day and continued to garner tips from sailors who could care less about the bright blue bands around his wrists and ankles. So he could return in pride to his fallen princess with a bag of shiny gold coins.

She looked up from the stew to see him prancing in looking for all the world like a fox that had just raided the hen house. He dropped the fat little sack of coins on the table and slumped onto their new futon. She smiled for him and offered her praise because it made him happy.

Lately her mind had been plagued by one looming, potential disaster. So as she sat in the house be built her looking at the money he worked so hard to LEGALLY bring her, she had a hard time spitting out what could bring their new found domestic bliss to a screeching halt.

He looked so happy that she wanted to cry since she was almost positive that he would freak out.

"Hey Mugen."

He looked up at the somber note to her voice and quirked an eyebrow.

"What?"

"I-I, uh I-"

"Spit it out brat."

"I think I might be pregnant…"

Her voice was small and scared and her wide eyes were riveted on him, searching for any signs of distress.

Mugen wasn't really surprised. He had almost been expecting this conversation, despite the fact that it scared him shitless. It had been a few weeks ago, on the night she had broken down in front of him that he hadn't pulled out. Not because he lost control or any other scatterbrained notion, but because as he looked down on her his heart had ached and he simply hadn't wanted to pull out. If she got pregnant, then well she got pregnant.

He simply unfurled his legs from under him and picked her up in his arms; displeased by the way her body trembled. He gently passed a hand over her belly. He smiled roguishly at her and winked.

"Sorry Fuu, but I'm just such a virile guy-"

He yelped as she brought a fist smashing into the back of his head.

A happy laugh followed it though and he remained with his face hovering near her stomach.

"You're not upset?"

"Upset no. Scared, fuck yes. I don't know what kinda dad I would be."

"A good one Mugen, a good one."


	22. Cravings

Mugen snarled at an old woman that accidentally bumped into him and almost caused him to drop the colossal amount of food in his arms. Horrified, the elderly woman hastened away.

He irritably burst into the house and began to throw the repulsive and random ingredients together according to her instructions before carting it over to their bedroom.

His ire instantly softened at the happy beam his heavily pregnant girl shot at him when he brought the concoction she called food towards her.

She balanced the bowl atop her stomach and proclaimed her love for leek-rice-dango-fish miso. He collapsed in bed beside her and idly rubbed her distended belly, quelling the rising tide of fear that accompanied the burst of male pride.

"You and your fuckin cravings Fuu." 


	23. Yoko

I attempted to proofread because I need to do that. This drabble is kinda weak though. I apologize. Next drabbles will be fun though because muugs will have to be dadish!

It was a quiet, lazy morning with wisps of clouds strewn across a pale empyrean sky. They were lying outside in the warm sun propped against the wall and each other. His large, calloused hand idly smoothed over her swollen stomach as they lay there in silence. She was feeling heavy and languid and utterly content to be lazily basking with him.

Their happy silence was shattered by a pained wail from Fuu as she doubled over clutching her stomach. His eyes widened and panic surged through him at the sight.

"My water just broke."

Her words were a groan of pain and he suddenly felt helpless and confused. With trembling hands he cradled her body and hoisted her into his arms. He kicked open the door and nestled her down in the futon.

If contractions hadn't been spasming painfully through her torso Fuu would have laughed at the sheer panic and confusion on his face as he stood there just staring at her while shifting his weight back and forth between his feet.

"Go get the midwife Mugen."

"Okay," he nearly shouted as he seized the chance to do something to stop her pained whimpers.

Sprinting outside and almost forgoing his geta, he sprinted down the street a blur of red and grey. People scattered out of his way as he barreled like a bull down the street, a stream of curses pouring out of his mouth. He almost tore down the door in his haste to get into the midwife's house.

"Hurry up," he shouted senselessly at her as she stared blankly at the felon currently fidgeting in her doorway.

"And where pray tell, am I hurrying to," she retorted dryly as she gathered her supplies, well aware that the pirate belonged to a certain heavily pregnant teahouse waitress.

"Fuu. Now can't you go any faster bitch? You should hear her screaming. She sounds like a goddamn banshee."

The midwife merely cocked an eyebrow at the clearly agitated man and pushed past him into the street. He trotted along behind her in a state of severe agitation.

"Light a fire under your ass!"

She turned and glared at him, trying to remember that deep down he was just shaken and scared for Fuu.

"Quit your jabbering or I'll tell Fuu."

He snarled and lunged forward, sweeping her up and sprinting down the street at a breakneck pace. Her yells of outrage were soon drowned out by the rush of the wind.

He arrived at their home and kicked down the door in his mad dash to get in and quickly placed the midwife next to the futon. Fuu rolled her eyes at the scene.

"Fix her!"

"Go outside man."

About to angrily snarl at the woman, Mugen was quickly silenced by a growling Fuu.

He tried to relax and focus on the warm sun on his skin and not the pained whimpers and shouts emanating from the hut. Each sound of pain made his fingers twitch. He had been her guard dog for so long it was hardwired in his system to respond to her when in danger or pain. At a particularly pained scream he leapt to his feet and scrambled back in.

Fuu tossed her sweaty head in his direction and literally growled at him.

"You asshole! I'll kill you when I get this thing out of me."

He knelt next to her and quietly smoothed her hair from her forehead.

"Okay," he murmured as he petted her head quietly, trying to remain calm.

With a loud scream and a final push Fuu brought a screaming bundle of fury into the world.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as the cleaned baby was handed to her. Mugen peered over her shoulder at the small bundle she was smiling at.

"It's a little girl," the midwife announced to them.

After feeding her Fuu handed Mugen his child and smiled as he nervously cradled her in his bronze arms. The midwife smiled at her as the gruff man grinned foolishly down on the little girl.

"She is gonna kick so much ass," he announced loudly as he brushed a lock of dark brown fuzz around.

"Don't curse around the baby you jerk."

"What are you going to name her Miss Fuu?"

Fuu looked down at the little girl who had eyes reminiscent of her father's in hue and intensity, but had the softness of her own eyes. Dark brown wisps of hair peppered her soft scalp and as the redness of birth faded she saw she had soft olive skin. She smiled at Mugen and tucked the little girl in the soft blankets he had bought for her.

"I think I will name her… Yoko."

"Ocean child," Mugen's voice softly chimed in as he stared transfixed at his little girl.

"Are they supposed to be that small?"

"Yes."

"Hey Fuu does this mean I can teach her the family trade?"

Both women looked dutifully appalled.

"You are not teaching our little girl to be a pirate!"

"Feh," he snorted dismissively.


	24. Starfish

Oceanside fluff.

He leveled a frightening stare at the giggling face staring right back him from a swaddle of soft blankets of clothes.

He sighed grumpily and picked her up. Her gurgling coo bubbled up in his ear as he propped her up on his shoulder, one large hand cradling her. This was her favorite way to ride, facing over his shoulder and looking at the world with eyes that were dichotomy of soft and piercing. Shaggy locks of dark brown hair fell in wispy shocks around her head. Her little, tiny elbows propped her up on his shoulder and her diminutive hands splayed over his back. He strolled out of the house and started towards the sea. She squealed with laughter as he set her down on his spread out haori and presented her with a starfish to play with.

"Don't move brat, I'mma catch us dinner."

He kicked off his geta and crouched down by a tidal pool teeming with stranded fish. With a serpentine flick of his arm he snatched a silvery, flailing fish from the pool. He unceremoniously tossed it in a bucket he had brought along. After repeating this process until the bucket was full he stretched languidly and returned to Yoko, who was still happily poking her starfish.

Mugen laughed at her and took in the flush of pink the sun imbued her olive cheeks with.

He swept her up and propped her on his shoulder, bucket swinging in his hand. She gurgled as gulls wheeled about crying strident shrieks into the vast empyrean firmament. And in that moment he felt more at peace then he ever had.


	25. Ringless

Oh lawsy! Ps thank you all for the reviews I adore them!

He can't help but feel a twinge of something alien as he looked in on his little family. Yoko was walking now and constantly getting into trouble, and then getting right back out of it because she was so cute. He was never a disciplinarian anyway; hell he was a convicted felon. Fuu was completely taken with the little girl and would brush her soft, wispy hair and dress her. Mugen would often watch her when Fuu had to work and he openly indulged the little monster in public. No one had ever been sweet, truly sweet, to him before Fuu and something in him couldn't bring him to be his normal snarling self to his little girl.

Right now Fuu was making dinner, stray locks falling from her coif and her cheeks rosy from the heat of the fire. Yoko was cuddling Momo, who chirped merrily at the lavishing of attention. She cooed ebulliently at the sight of Mugen and waddled over to him. Her tiny arms were brandished high above her head and she made a series of unhappy noises until he picked her up. She cuddled into his neck with a sleepy gurgle. He quietly crossed the room and placed the sleeping baby in a cradle he had made for her right before she was born.

Fuu smiled as she watched the bloodthirsty pirate tuck her in with almost overly gentle hands. He was surly and gruff but she knew that he loved the little girl. He watched her with no complaint and she often caught him staring at her.

She felt him sidle up behind her and wrap his tawny arms around her lithe torso. He pressed his lips to her temple and breathed in her clean scent.

He turned her around so that she was perched in his lap. He searched her face with feral eyes and stroked her cheeks with calloused fingers.

"Fuu."

"Yeah?"

His heart hammered painfully in his chest as he looked at her with wild eyes. She looked at him in concern and threaded her fingers through his wild, shaggy mane.

"Will you marry me?"

Shock paralyzed every muscle in her body and she stupidly gaped at him. She blinked rapidly and opened and closed her mouth.

"Wha?"

"Will you marry me?"

His voice was soft and uncharacteristically patient.

"Yes, oh god yes."

Tears streaked down her cheeks and she wound her arms around his neck, crushing her lips to his.

"I don't have a ring."

"I don't have a dowry."

"Perfect," he laughed as he leaned in to kiss his fiancé.

He was scared shitless but he knew this was something he had to do. They lived together in a house he had built her, they loved each other, and they had a kid. It was the natural conclusion. Besides he loved her and wanted to do right by her. She deserved to be married, to know that he would never leave her.

"I never thought you would ask me," she whispered into his hair.

"Yeah well."

His grumble tapered off and he shot her a rakish grin.

"I just realized this means we get a honeymoon," he purred into her ear.


	26. Ronin

Gee I wonder who makes an appearance in this chapter?

Fuu hummed idly while she rifled around in her garden. The melding of Yoko's happy laughter and the dulcet chattering of the birds soothed her. The sun was warm on her back and face as it spilled over the earth in great buttery rays. A sudden excited squeal from Yoko had Fuu smiling. It was only when she happily shouted 'pirate' that she stopped. Yoko referred to everyone with a sword as a pirate ever since she learned daddy, who had a sword, was a pirate. Mugen wouldn't be back from the docks until much later in the day. Fuu whirled around to face the swordsman.

A startled gasp tumbled from her lips at the sight before her. He looked like he had stepped right out her memories.

"Jin!"

"Pirate," cried Yoko joyfully.

Jin raised a brow at this and looked from the little girl to Fuu and then to her lacking ring finger.

"Where is the father?"

Fuu laughed.

"Somewhere on the docks, probably up to no good."

Jin took a closer look at Yoko and Fuu saw real surprise register on his face for the first time.

"Mugen?"

"Mugen," Fuu nodded with an indulgent smile.

A short laugh broke out of Jin and he actually smiled back.

"What have you been up to?"

Jin smiled and held up his hand, and Fuu shrieked to see a ring on it.

"Is it Shino?!"

"Yes, we have a little boy not much older then her."

"Oh my god we have to go tell Mugen right now!"

Jin smiled as Yoko stopped her play at the mention of going to see Mugen.

"Daddy!"

"Yes sweetie let's go see daddy."

She squealed and began to run off through the yard and down the path.

Fuu took off after her and Jin followed them.

Mugen yanked on the rope in tandem with some other dock hands, pulling the boat closer to the dock so they could secure it. As he wound the rope into a knot he heard a series of excited girlish shrieks. He then felt a familiar weight attach to his left leg.

He looked to see Yoko grinning up at him.

Confusion spread through him.

"Hime, where is your mom?"

"Slow! Pirate!"

He picked her up at the mention of pirate and began to walk across the dock. Yoko happily patted his hair and chattered away in garbled coos.

A brief sigh of relief escaped him as Fuu rounded the corner.

"Scared the shit out of me woman, you can't just let cute little children run around the docks."

"She so small and fast," Fuu protested with a smile.

"What's she talking about pirate?"

He almost dropped her when Jin appeared behind Fuu, a wan smile on his face as he took in Mugen holding a little girl that was happily playing with his poofy hair.

"Mugen."

"Jin."

"Pirate," shouted Yoko as she gestured towards Jin.

"No hime, ronin. Jin is ronin."


	27. Thief

Bit o' silliness.

Yoko ran around Mugen while he ambled down the street, one shrewd eye trained on her despite his lazy, unconcerned appearance. She tugged on the hem of his shorts and mumbled a string of garbled words.

"You just keep talking brat. You're about to be your mom's problem."

She merely giggled and waved her arms above her head, her eyes pleading with all the cunning of a seasoned fox.

With an exaggerated groan he hoisted her onto his shoulders and quirked a brow when she started to pat his unruly hair.

"Groo!"

"Groo eh?"

"Groo!"

He chuckled and ducked into the teahouse where Fuu was about to get off work. He set down Yoko and ducked to her level.

"Go get dad a dumpling, okay?"

She grinned wickedly and scampered into the kitchen.

Fuu walked from the back room to see her tiny daughter toddling through the restaurant with a dumpling in her hand. Mugen materialized from a shadowy table and scooped her up.

"Good job, Yoko."

She heaved a sigh as the little girl nuzzled him while he ate his dumpling, she was bound to be a skilled thief by the time she was ten. Then again that's what she gets for having a kid with someone who was criminal impulses encoded into his genetic makeup.


	28. Pounce

I love you guys, the reviews make me grin like a fool and all warm and fuzzy inside. Haha

Yoko gleefully attacked the much calmer Takeshi as the little boy mournfully looked at his father. His obsidian hair was rankled by her dexterous little fingers as she pounced.

"Go play Takeshi," Shino gently urged.

The boy heaved a sigh and darted out of her reach.

In a move that had Mugen beaming and Fuu praying for mercy, Yoko twisted her tiny body with inhuman inflexibility and surged after the runaway boy. His short bark of laughter had Jin raising an eyebrow and Shino smiling.

"He only laughs for her."

"So fishface, do you laugh for Shino?"

Fuu nailed him in the arm as Shino giggled.

Another small house was now in the clearing Mugen had built Fuu's in and two (one screaming) children were playing around the lazing parents.

"I don't care what you say I'm giving her a sword when she turns five," Mugen declared loudly as he witnessed a particularly brutal takedown of the boy. When he surged after her she shrieked in a mix of dismay and glee and sprinted towards Mugen as fast as her legs would go. He snatched her up just in time for the little boy to crash into him.

He made a series of miffed grumbles while Yoko preened in Mugen's arms.

"Mugen so help me if you teach her anything illicit then I will kill you."

"Pfft. Define illicit, bitch."

"BITCH!"

"YOKO!"

"That's my girl."

"Your coarse habits are being picked up by your young daughter."

"Oh my."


	29. Soft

I know nothing of Japanese weddings, so excuse me.

He fidgeted without cease and shot desperate glances towards the door Jin was so subtly guarding. The waitresses from the teahouse cooed over him and Yoko who was currently trying to engage Takeshi in a game of chase through the temple. All their softspoken words of reprimand and Jin's hnnns could not get the little girl to stop in her play. With a snort of over stressed annoyance he whirled to face them.

"Yoko, go sit next to Takeshi and Ronin."

The little girl halted her rowdy antics and sulkily slunk towards Jin.

He felt like tearing out his hair and kicking someone in the face. He was crawling under his skin and seriously questioning his life and sanity at the moment. He was a badass, not a domestic. Damn woman was turning him soft. Anger boiled up, overwhelming the jittery agitation. He was NOT soft godammit. He pinned enraged, feral eyes on the door and began to turn his body to face it.

The intense surge of anger died as the door opened and she walked in. Swathed in an elaborate, beautiful kimono she brought shining, dewy eyes to meet his and in one fell swoop he released a defeated sigh and wondered when he had gone soft.

He held her hands and displayed uncharacteristic patience as the vows were exchanged. He idly watched a happy tear roll down her cheek and had to suppress the urge to lick it off. He couldn't wait to get her out of that pretty, silky kimono.

He kissed her soundly and bit to long according to Jin's reprimanding 'hnn'.

"You kids be good," cheered one of the waitresses as they exited the temple.

Sporting a wolfish grin Mugen slung a squealing Fuu over his shoulder like she weighed nothing.

"Don't know how," he purred as Fuu sagged in defeat over his shoulder.


	30. Swag

I make fearsome men as docile as kittens!

"C'mon Takeshi," her deceptively sweet voice cooed.

The boy cast suspicious, intelligent eyes on her. Her dark brown hair was swaying gently in the scant breeze and she looked the very picture of innocence. He knew far better then that. She was a six year old hellion and he knew better then to rush headlong with her in charge.

"What is it this time Yoko?"

A pout appeared on her face and he almost crumpled but that was weakness and he was named for fierceness and warriors, not capitulating to the demands of a cute little girl.

"I just wanted to go to the beach and swim."

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"Puh-lease?"

He heaved an annoyed sigh.

"Hnnn. You are so troublesome."

She grinned, an inherited facial expression far too wolfish for a little girl, and linked arms with him.

"And where do you brats think your going?"

They froze at the growl and Yoko whirled to face her father.

"To the beach."

"No."

"Daaaad."

"Noooo," he mocked.

"I wanna watch the boats come in."

A panicked expression crossed his face.

"Shit! Boats!"

He waved at them dismissively and sprinted towards a deserted section of beach.

Yoko giggled at Takeshi's questioning expression.

"Pirates," she explained and dragged him along after her father.  
As they entered the cove it was a scene of chaos. Goods were being unloaded and supplies hauled on deck. A young pirate looked up and grinned at Yoko.

"Hime-chan!"

She released Takeshi and scampered over to the boat. Mugen smiled as she scrambled up the rope ladders up onto the deck. For a bunch of really bad men they all had a big gushy soft spot for the little girl.

"Oi, Hime-chan, gotcha a present," drawled a grizzled, hulking pirate.

She fearlessly bounded over to him, excitement in her eyes.

He handed her a little tanto as Mugen smirked. The handle was painted with waves and beaches and gulls and she squealed happily.

A few other pirates handed her little presents from their haul.

Mugen slung his bag of goodies over his shoulder and waved goodbye. He outright laughed when he saw Yoko begin to hand Takeshi things to carry.

"Poor kid, he's already whipped and he's only six."


	31. Frustrations

Fuu's random and rambling thoughts as per request. Also would you guys be interested in a Shinsuke/Fuu or a Naruto fic? Drop me a line because maybe if i could finally churn out a decent one if I knew it had a captive audience. Peace and love kids

Sometimes the frustration just overwhelmed her and she snapped, usually at Mugen. He was hard to live with sometimes. Despite having calmed much as he grew up, he was still restless, a fact he strove to hide from her. He had never settled into a permanent job and he sometimes looked ready to crawl from his skin for lack of action. A little part of her still worried despite how many years he had lingered faithfully by her side. She feared he would one day see his family as shackles to be cast off or an obligation to be endured. Part of her would always fear, it had happened to her mother and her father had been an honorable samurai, not a cutthroat from Ryukyu. Despite his thick skull he seemed to pick up on this and it always seemed to annoy him. Regardless of his annoyance he would stroke her cheeks and kiss her forehead in between murmured words of devotion, too low for anyone else to hear.

Another annoyance came in the form of how very much like her father Yoko was. She proved to be accurately named and one could almost see swells crashing in her eyes. She smelled like the outdoors and the sea, a trait she did not inherit from Mugen.

She apparently shared her attraction to dark men though, and her ability to attract them. She had all of Mugen's pirate friends eating out of the palm of her hand and bringing her little gifts everytime they blew into port. She and Shino laughed at the sullen, withdrawn expression on Takeshi's face everytime the ship came in and with it the young pirate with stars in his eyes for Yoko. The boy was utterly taken with Fuu, intrigued by her in much the same way Mugen was fascinated with her. Yoko seemed exotic to the feral boy-pirate while Yoko grinned gamely for him since he would take her out in the ships dingy and Yoko dearly loved to be on the water. Fuu could only hope that in the end Yoko did not take after herself that much, she needed Takeshi to balance her wildness. She would hate to see the kind of trouble Yoko would get into if paired with someone like that pirate boy.

"Fuu what the fuck are you doing?"

She turned speculative eyes on Mugen, dreamy and faraway.

"Just thinking."


	32. Closest

More Takeshi/Yoko fluff because I love them and just want to write about them all the time. Sorry real characters XD

The bronze, leggy boy grinned wildly at her while demonstrating the proper way to leap off the boat and into the crashing surf.

Takeshi narrowed his eyes and glared at the boy. He was slightly older then himself, around eight. And always flitting around Yoko like some lovesick puppy. Not that Takeshi cared. Let her carouse with the feral pirate, maybe she took after her mother and went for the bad type. Mugen sometimes appalled him with his barbaric ways and brash/lazy temperament.

The dripping boy scurried back up the ship and Yoko laughed and mussed his sopping, dark hair. Dark brown eyes pinned Takeshi with a triumphant glare while he adjusted her grip on her tanto when teaching her just where to shank someone. She merely laughed and pretend shanked Takeshi before taking his hand and pulling him along.

"Bye Toru!"

Takeshi cast a serene, oddly smug look over his thin shoulders at the scowling boy, because in the end he was always the one closest to her for the good or the bad.


	33. Job

A Job!? Gasp

Mugen sighed and finally capitulated. He had fought this tooth and nail for how many years now? The man's face split in twain with the force of his grin and he vigorously shook his tawny hand.

"Glad you finally took the position son."

"Yeah well, the wife is knocked up again and I am sick to death of arguing with you old man."

"You're gonna make a real nice dock manager, Mugen."


	34. Pearls

Eeek! The drama. I could help myself kukuku.

Mugen hoisted the training sword and tossed it to the young boy before him. Yoko lounged idly on the sidelines twirling her favorite wave emblazoned tanto on one finger.

Shinsuke tossed his shaggy brown hair from his eyes and regarded his father with sharp, intelligent eyes. Fairer then his sister with golden brown, almost amber eyes, he was the apple of every little girls eye. His best friend, Jin's second son, was watching (Yoko) from the sidelines. Isamu was hopelessly smitten with the thirteen year old Yoko, and her tan skin and dark hair. She was exotic and took after her mother in beauty, with hints of her fathers intensity peppered in. She was destined to break hearts and necks from the way she looked and acted. She had already gotten in trouble for punching a boy who tried to grab her.

Shinsuke, named after a man his mother once knew, dashed at his father, whirling and spinning and attempting to slash the quicksilver that was his opponent.

"Go for his knees," came Yoko's oh so helpful advice.

"Yoko the ship is coming in today. Go see if they have anything for me," Mugen shouted to get her away and keep her occupied.

She grinned wickedly and leapt to her feet, sprinting towards the beach in a fluttering of green fabric.

Her sandals in hand she scampered across the beach and into the cove, tawny cheeks flushed with the exercise. The first thing she saw made her drop her sandals with joy. Something that had been noticeably absent from her life for a few years now.

"TORU!"

Said boy turned and smiled fondly down at her from the scaffolding. He quickly shimmied down and met her on the beach. He had grown tall and beautiful and smelled of faint sweat and ocean spray.

"Yoko, how are ya?"

She missed the adoring look in his eye and blush on his cheek, far too wrapped up in her own euphoria to feel the faint twitch of his hand on her shoulder as she wrapped him in a hug.

"I missed you, you fool. Where have you been?"

"Where haven't I been?"

The sound of her laugh, dulcet yet robust, made him smile even more as he hesitantly released her.

"I got you something."

She arched an eyebrow and poked him in his lean torso.

"Is it a pony," she joked.

He dug through his pockets and handed her a pouch closed with a bracelet like the one her mother never took off.

She almost dropped it when she opened it. It was filled with pearls of both a creamy white and piceous black. They glimmered darkly in the depths of the pouch.

"Thank you so much Toru. They are gorgeous."

His breath threatened to hitch as she squirmed her wrist into the bracelet and fingered a large black pearl. His fingers brushed her cheek before he drew back his hand.

"Oi, Toru what was that?"

A pirate tossed her Mugen's swag.

"Shogun's ships are headed our way Toru, we set sail in five."

He cast a quick glance back then slid a hand behind Yoko's head and pulled her to him. He hastily slanted his lips over hers.

Too surprised to react she gaped at him as he withdrew with a wild smirk.

"See you soon hotstuff."

She didn't see Takeshi walking away from the scene.

Sorry but I just adore Toru, I see him as this sexy wanderlust stricken ball of pirate smex. Ps his name means wayfarer how very fitting.


	35. Severed

Angsty little side bit with Takeshi and Yoko. I promise more fuugen soon. I am just loving the babies right now they're oh so smexy. Also I am on another roll and just wrote an entire arch so excuse me spamming yall with updates.

"Hey Takeshi!"

When he didn't turn around she shouted louder.

"OI, TAKESHI"

She reached for his shoulder to turn him around but he flinched violently away from her touch and pinned her with a callous stare.

"What's wrong?"

Her voice was laced with confusion and maybe a little bit of hurt but he continued to stare blankly at her as if she was below his notice.

"Go away, Yoko."

Hurt bloomed in her eyes as he refused to explain his actions but he absolutely refused to give into her again. He was of noble stock, descendent of proud and skilled samurai and told himself he was merely separating himself from someone who had proven to prefer the company of riffraff. He didn't care about her. And he hated the way emotion crossed her face without any inhibition. Hated the way if she felt sorrow it was instantly reflected in her golden brown eyes. Hated the way it made him _feel_ when he could easily read every flicker of emotion that registered, and his seemingly innate need to analyze them.

"Takeshi…"

He did the worst possible thing he could to her.

"Hnnnn," he replied and ignored the clenching of his chest as tears rolled down her cheeks as he turned his back to her and strolled away.

He almost turned around when he heard her confused and strangled sob and the sound of her swift departure.

XxxxxxX

Mugen looked up as Yoko burst inside in a fit of tears.

"Oi, what the fuck is wrong with you brat?"

Her reply was too garbled by sorrow to decipher and he heaved an annoyed sigh.

"Spit it out brat."

"Takeshi won't speak to me," she wailed, a far cry from the grinning, semi-feral beauty that he knew.

Mugen's expression instantly softened and he idly regarded her. He was well aware that Takeshi had devoted himself to her a long time ago, stricken by love for the girl even if he fought it tooth and nail.

"Hime, maybe it has something to do with that bracelet."

Confusion crossed her face and Mugen patted the ground beside him.

"Why would he be so mean to me because Toru-kun gave me a bracelet?"

"The bracelet means that your Toru's girl."

Anger bloomed on her face first at Toru for presuming, then overwhelmingly at Takeshi.

"So he was so vile to me because of that?! Fine, let him be mad at me. If he doesn't want to be around me I damn well won't force him. And I'll wear any bracelet I please."

Mugen ruffled her hair, unsure how he felt about this. He was torn. But most of all he just wanted to see her happy, and with a man who would fight for her happiness like he fought for Fuu's.

She leapt to her feet and stormed out the door.

"Where ya goin brat?"

"I need some string."

"Why?"

"Because I have a bag of pearls and no necklace."


	36. Never

Angst revisited.

She had taken to wearing an obi with the same Ryukyuian pattern Mugen's holster bore. She didn't pursue her friendship with Takeshi, far too hurt by his rebuttal and quickness to assume. She devoted herself to her family and other friends. She learned how to sail like the best of them from her father who easily recognized the predisposition for piracy in her.

Shinsuke grew taller and even more beautiful, almost frighteningly so. His amber eyes regarded Takeshi coolly as he came to retrieve Isamu.

Isamu looked to his older brother, sensing the tension rippling between him and his best friend.

Takeshi scratched the back of his fair neck and turned surprisingly earnest eyes on Shinsuke.

"How is Yoko?"

"Hasn't been the same since she came home crying a few months back," he retorted icily.

Pain lanced through Takeshi.

"What do you mean?"

"She spends all her time at the beach, fingering some pearls and learning how to sail. Mum thinks that dad has taught her how to pickpocket too."

Soft footsteps had him turning around, seeing her face for the first time in two months. She looked wild, and even more beautiful then before. Her silky hair was coiffed much like her mother's with lacquered sticks holding it up. Her bronze skin was smooth and golden and he itched to brush his knuckles over it. Her dress had changed slightly. She wore a peacock green kimono and with a green and yellow triangled sash as an obi. A string of black and white pearls was draped around her fair neck and the accursed rope bracelet hung around her wrist.

"Takeshi-san," she said politely before stepping into the house, a picture of Japanese grace and civility despite the underlying cold tone in her voice when she spoke to him. That suffix cut him deeply and for a minute he felt regret seep into his bones for shattering a friendship that had been nurtured since infancy. Then his hubris set in and he raised his chin in defiance.

"Isamu it's time to leave."

The boy looked to his brother with sad eyes.

"Yeah let's go."

Takeshi could almost hear the rest of that sentence _'before you upset her'_. And it hurt, but he would not give in, never ever again.


	37. Suitor

Return of the OC eekkk gads the love triangle

He brushed his swarthy hair back from his forehead, overly intelligent eyes narrowed on the girl currently fawning over him. He was an almost dead ringer for his father, minus the glasses and a bit more expressive. Once upon a time he laughed freely with a wild half-foreign girl, but those days seemed like a memory now and he hadn't laughed in months.

He peered over the babbling girl's head and his eyes narrowed even further. Ambling through the market place, laughing and smirking and grinning for girls who skittered out of his way in fear was Toru. He waved languidly at Takeshi before veering off towards the docks.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

Mugen scrutinized the boy before him. He was tall, almost as tall as himself and exotic looking. He had dark, sultry eyes and shaggy black hair that spilled in disarray about his face. He was Ryukyuian. He was a pirate. He was asking for a job.

"Why the hell would a pirate want to work on the docks?"

The boy laughed and gave Mugen a pointed look.

"From what I understand one of the most notorious pirates to come out of Ryukyu is currently dock manager."

"Smartass."

"Couldn't help myself. Anyway crew got broken up and I want to work here until a new ship comes in. I hear that one is coming in from Ryukyu with a bunch of your contemporaries."

Mugen laughed.

"The boys are coming here?"

"Aye, that they are. And I suppose I'll try and join up when they blow through."

"Yeah kid, I'll give ya a job. Don't cause problems though. Yoko'll be happy your back," he said slyly.

The boys tan face exploded into a grin at the mention of her name.

"Ya think?"

Mugen smirked at the excited smitten tone of the young swashbuckler's voice.

"She still wears your bracelet boy. On that note, hurt her and I'll cut of your balls."

"Never would."

"Good thing punk, now go bring in that ship."


	38. His fault

I just love takeshi.

He seemed to have settled into the position he once held, always near her when he wasn't working, or at least from what he had heard. He had only seen them once since he tried to steer clear of her. Toru had been looking down on her in utter adoration and had casually slipped his hand around hers. She had looked sad for a minute before smiling and squeezing his hand. Takeshi had to suppress the feeling that everything was wrong and it was all his fault.


	39. Departure

The sad. I want back to fluff.

Fuu burst into the hut, running straight into Jin's arms.

"Jin you have to go talk to him. He's lost his dam mind."

"What did he do?"

"There is currently an entire crew of his old gang from Ryukyu in my house. They are trying to recruit him. He already got Toru a spot on the ship and Yoko is begging to be able to join too."

A series of shocked gasps reverberated through the house and Jin hurriedly shot to his feet.

"He might let her do it. He says she isn't happy here. And kami knows he is wrapped around her little finger," she sobbed.

"He isn't that stupid Fuu."

"She has that same restless gleam in her eye now. I don't know what to do, neither one of them will listen to me. And Toru seems to think it's a grand idea."

Jin left and Takeshi rose silently and followed after him.

He ran, his legs protesting the speed at which he was running. Mugen was exiting the hut, his eyes hard and solemn. A gaggle of rough, dark men followed him, Toru in their midst.

"Toru go find Yoko and tell her to come see me," he commanded in an unreadable voice.

Takeshi couldn't suppress the rage that boiled over inside him. With a shout of rancor he launched himself at Mugen, katana drawn. With a simple twist the blow was evaded and the clang of steel rang out. Mugen heaved his own European blade against Takeshi's and sent the teen sprawling in the dirt.

"Don't fuck with me kid."

Toru and the others seemed ready to slit his throat but Mugen held out his hand to help him up.

"It's never too late yo."

Takeshi sprinted towards the beach leaving a speechless Toru fit to rip his legs off.

"You stay and let them speak," Mugen growled.

XxxxxxxxxxxX

She was sitting on a gargantuan rock in the middle of the shallows, looking for all the world like a siren ready to lure him to his death. Her eyes were dreamy and wistful and adoring as she looked at the sea. The wind rifled through her heavy locks and she didn't turn to face him.

"Yoko. Don't be a fool. A pirate ship is no place for a girl."

Especially a pretty one he mentally added.

"I'm leaving Takeshi. There is a whole big world out there and I wanna see it. So you can't stop and furthermore why do you even care you bastard."

The venom in her voice was undeniable but he trudged into the surf to reach her rock, feeling his hakama become heavy and unwieldy. If she chose to attack then he would be at a serious disadvantage. He saw the black leggings under her kimono and lamented ever letting her get this far into the grand old adventure that was piracy.

"Just don't-"

"Fuck you Takeshi. Don't you lecture me from your white horse. I can fight and sail as well if not better then any man on that ship and they know it as well as you do. I can take care of myself and I don't need you just as much as you obviously didn't need me."

She leapt deftly off the rock, shrugging her kimono top of her shoulders and untying her obi. A small haori with sawed off sleeves clung to her curves and was tied with a similar sash. She looked like a delicious mix of samurai's granddaughter with her delicate features and innate poise and pirate's daughter with her radical dress and sword clenched in hand. He hadn't even seen her produce the sword.

Tears rolled down her cheeks.

"You hurt me so fucking bad Takeshi. I hate that you just assumed I was with him, that I would latch on to the first bit of affection I received. I hate that you cling to your noble roots. I have news for you. Your father has a bounty just like mine. I'm pretty sure you lose the benefits of your pedigree when you become a wanted man. So I don't see why you act so lordly. You meant so much to me but you severed it without provocation or warning and I am not going to hang back just because you don't feel like letting me leave. This is the first time you have spoken to me in how long? What's to stop you from doing this all over again after my chance to be free has slipped through my fingers? But I guess I should thank you, because if you hadn't have been so mean to me I guess I would probably be hung up on a stuck up ronin's son right now instead of realizing there are people who love me. People like Toru."

Takeshi's heart wrenched painfully in his chest during her spiel then began to hammer in his chest at the last part. She had had feelings for him? When? When she was kissing that pirate boy?

He walked forward, towards her emotionally charged battle stance, not bothering to draw his sword. He hoped it wouldn't prove fatal.

She raised her sword, trying hard to be threatening but she couldn't bring herself to hurt him. So she ran. Shrugging into her kimono as she did so. She ran right into the arms of Toru as he appeared on the beach.

"The ship leaves soon, we need to get ready," he murmured while leveling an appraising glare at Takeshi who drew a sword and charged him.

Toru shoved Yoko out of the way and met him head on in an explosion of clashing steel.

Yoko leapt to her feet, kimono fluttering to the ground and joined the fray, trying to break them up. Toru was good, but Takeshi was his father's son and would slaughter him. But Yoko was her father's daughter and deflected the would be fatal blow from landing.

When Mugen and Jin arrived with Shino and Fuu and the pirates they came upon a melee. A hilt caught Toru in the head and he crumpled to the ground, unconscious, Yoko defended his prone body with her father's snarl while Takeshi tried to get at him with his father's detachment.

With a feral shriek Yoko swung the flat of her sword into the side of his head and pinned him to them ground, tip pressed ominously to his throat.

"I can take care of myself. I hope you can laugh on your own, you had a lovely laugh Takeshi."

She stood and hauled Toru to his feet, dragging him unceremoniously towards the shocked cluster of people.

"I want to go."

"You'll come back pregnant," wailed Fuu.

"No I'll come back with a bag of jewels for you and swords for dad and Shinsuke."

Mugen regarded her sadly.

"Then go Hime-chan. But know that you may never find your way home."

"What! No, I forbid you!"

"Mugen," Jin warned.

"She just bested your son; she can take care of herself."

So Takeshi watched in a sea of self-loathing, wondering why he couldn't just tell her he loved her, as she boarded a ship with a groggy Toru and sailed off over the sea.


	40. Cold Shoulder

I need to write a real story but now that I started writing drabbles that seems it is all I can do. I also fear we maybe drawing ever closer to the finale kids.

Fuu refused to speak to him, they were all livid with him but he chalked that up to them not understanding. He understood. She did take after him after all. He knew what the siren call of the sea sounded like and in his youth nothing could have dissevered him from her vast oscillating body, not women nor booze nor money.

So he waited as they gradually came around, knowing deep down Fuu harbored that anger until it had just about all dried up.


	41. Homecoming

This marks the end of the angst, I think, and the return to fluff as toothrottingly sweet as jetpuff! Mmm jetpuff

Fuu absently scrubbed down tables with Shino, listening to Jin and Takeshi murmur and the quiet sound of the rain. The thud of geta through waterlogged earth was so natural to her she didn't miss the distinct absence of a metallic twang inside the wooden thud. When the curtains parted and the men went silent she thought nothing of it, only called out that they were closed.

It was only when she heard Takeshi breath out a tenderly missed name that she looked up.

Grinning at her was her daughter after two long years. She was fifteen now and bronzed as much as her father now. Her hair was a little to long and shaggy in its spunky coif and new sticks with sharpened tips had replaced her old ones. She was absolutely stunning and soaked to the bone.

"Yoko."

"Takeshi," she said, no real hint of her former anger there.

He noticed a necklace that once hung around Toru's neck hung round hers, stained red with what appeared to be blood.

"Missed you guys."

Fuu entrenched her in a hug, sobbing into her green, tunic-like shirt.

She clutched her hand and dragged her home, screaming for Mugen.

His startled laugh preceded him picking her up in a massive hug; mumbling into her soaking hair.

"Hime-chan how did you like the sea?"

"She is beautiful, but she takes without discrimination."

"Where is Toru? I can't believe he left you alone for more then two seconds," chimed Shinsuke.

"Toru has left me alone for a very, very long time," she replied sadly, fingering the red stained necklace around her neck.

A sudden smile lit her face.

"And I so did not come back pregnant!"


	42. Beach

Sorry for children over kill. Here is some hastily written plotless fugen smut to extend the olive branch. –cowers-

She pressed her face into his back, lips ghosting over the slightly salty skin there. His licentious grin made a shiver of anticipation slither down her spine. The sand gave way beneath her feet and she felt fifteen again, with an older boy pressing her into the ground on top of his haori. His tongue slid up her bare neck and his dark, rippling chuckle melded with the crash of the swells. Moonlight pooled on lean, powerful shoulders as he planted his hands on either side of her and ground his lean hips into hers.

"Oh Mugen."

Despite the fact he was now in his late thirties, he fucked like he wasn't a day over nineteen and looked around twenty-six. He nipped at the underside of her jaw, playing her like a shamisen, his dark swarthy fingers expertly plucking her strings.

His hands parted her kimono and he kicked off his shorts.

She cried out, unable to suppress the shriek of pleasure as he went straight for that one spot that made her eyes squeeze close and her toes curl.

His furious pace and adroitly snapping hips had her teetering at an almost embarrassingly rapid pace.

"Come for me," he rasped in her ear, amused by his own talents.

So she did in a glorious contracting and quivering of muscles that had him panting harshly in her ear as he staved off his own conclusion in favor of prolonging the act.

"Again, brat."

And so she did again, unable to deny him when he purred into her ear and punctuated it with a vicious grinding snap of his powerful hips. With a content snarl he followed her into that abyss nuzzling her as he came down.

"Hey Mugen."

"Yeah?"

"I officially hate sand," she grumped as he tried in vain to fish it out of the tiny crevices of her body.


	43. Clang Clang

Did the wait make you miss so very much you'll excuse the piece of shit that constitutes this drabble? And I just don't know where to go with perfection so ideas welcome. Ideas are always welcome. I like requests. request stuff for this. I'm so mad at ff right now i've been trying to upload for like two weeks but it wouldn't let me. bastards.

Mugen and Jin were nothing more then blurs of blue and red lost amidst the symphony of clashing metal.

Fuu and Shino watched with smiles, one oddly nostalgic and one of awe, as they evaded and came together, united in their opposition.

Shinsuke and Yoko were idly watching from the side when she felt fingers curl over her shoulder.

She heard the wail of a sword being unsheathed and whirled to face a wanly smiling Takeshi.

With a wild grin she lunged, own katana directed at him.

They became like their fathers, blurs dashing between gleaming silver arches.

Surprise escalated in her when she felt his blade pressing against her throat.

"You always were too wild Yoko," he said calmly, quietly.

"Once upon a time I had someone to reel me back in."

"You abandoned the abandoner."

"Yeah."

Jin turned his head to watch the battle and Mugen planted a geta clad foot in the middle of his chest.

"HA!"

His crow of victory had Fuu dropping her head in defeat and Shino wincing for her husband.

"That is dishonorable."

"I'm a pirate I have no honor," he retorted gleefully as he preened over his ill won victory.


	44. Memory

She remembered the searing burning rending intensity of that first gaze he leveled on her. How he had ducked into the teahouse and passed by her with a sideways glance that froze her greeting on her lips.

She remembered the weary but vicious look in those searing burning eyes when he dragged himself up a hill to a decrepit church and ordered her to run. The very memory caused a tight clenching pain in her chest when she thought about it.

She remembered fights and giggles and watching him stalk off with women.

Yes, she remembered but she never would have guessed.

Guessed that years from those long ago days of fifteen she would be watching their children grow up and ready to flee and snuggling into his lean warmth every night.


End file.
